As Mexico heads to the peak of hurricane season, a low-pressure system in the central Caribbean Sea is causing concern.
The disturbance has a 70% chance to grow into a tropical depression or storm, reaching the Yucatán Peninsula within the next five days.
Mexico and U.S. states on the Gulf should monitor its progress closely the next several days, the Weather Channel advises.
If this weather pattern — designated Invest 99L — develops into a tropical storm, it will be called either Ida and Julian. Forecasters did not indicate its hurricane potential.
To become a named tropical storm, the system would first have to organize a circular airflow and require maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph.
The storm could also hit Central America later this week or into the early part of the weekend.
“The forecast is less clear beyond that timeframe, but one worth watching over the next few days, especially if you live along the western Gulf Coast, from Louisiana to Texas and Mexico,” the Weather Channel announced.
After the storm decides exactly when and where it will consolidate and develop, forecasters will have a better look at its future track and intensity.
There is still a chance the high-pressure system is positioned in a manner that sends this system on a more westerly path, impacting Celestún, Campeche, and Veracruz, which was devastated by Hurricane Grace last week.
At least eight people in Veracruz died Saturday as Grace strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane, bringing mudslides and flooding.
The National Hurricane Center said Grace quickly weakened to a tropical storm as it churned over mountainous areas in central Mexico east of Mexico City and then dissipated.
